Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35-2359

Title: Econarrative
Subtitle: Ethics, Ecology, and the Search for New Narratives to Live By
Publication Year: 2024

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/
Book URL: https://www.bloomsbury.com/econarrative-9781350263116/

Author(s): Arran Stibbe

Reviewer: Rebecca Madlener

SUMMARY

In “Econarratives”, Arran Stibbe shows the many ways in which econarratives, narratives involving humans, other species and the physical environment, can be analysed using linguistic, rhetorical and narratological methods. The book focuses on how these narratives can influence how people think, talk and act by either reinforcing or resisting pre-existing narratives about how people interact with the ecosystem. The book aims to highlight the importance of finding new stories to live by that are in line with the author’s views on how people should be interacting with the environment.

The book is divided into ten chapters: an introduction (Chapter 1), eight chapters illustrating different analytic approaches to various text types (Chapters 2-9), and a conclusion (Chapter 10). Additionally, the book contains a glossary of key terminology as well as an index and an appendix containing a Cherokee creation myth (Appendix A) and a list of credits and permissions for material that was reproduced in the book (Appendix B). Each chapter starts with a brief definition of key terminology, goes through case studies and ends with a brief conclusion that explains how the chosen case studies fit with the book's overall aim.

The first chapter begins with a discussion of the importance of narratives, followed by definitions of key terminology that is used throughout the book (e.g. narrative structure, narrative text, metanarrative). All definitions are compared and contrasted with the terms’ usage in previous studies. The author then moves on to defining his personal ecosophy, the values based on which he judges narratives as beneficial, destructive, or ambivalent. The chapter ends with an overview of the book’s aims and content.

Chapter 2’s topic is “Beginning”. It looks at the use of activation, a process of showing characters as actively doing something, in creation narratives. The linguistic devices that give activation to non-human characters are investigated in narratives from different cultural backgrounds. The analysis focuses on what this tells us about human–non-human relationships.

Chapter 3’s topic is “Identifying”, and it looks at ecocultural identity. It begins with a definition of the term and then investigates how one activist creates and expresses her ecocultural identity in multiple interviews. The analysis takes the different linguistic structures she uses into account and puts particular emphasis on the use of parallel constructions to present humans and plants as equal.
Chapter 4 moves on to the topic of “Emplacing” by investigating timelessness and placefulness in English-language haiku. It discusses what haikus are and how they fit into the context of (eco-) narratives despite their focus on single events. The analysis considers how time, or timelessness, is expressed in haikus, either through the use of tense or other linguistic means, as well as the methods used to create a sense of place.

Chapter 5 focuses on the topic of “Enchanting” and analyses the language of enchantment in nature writing. The chapter first defines the key concepts, disenchantment and enchantment, and how they can be expressed linguistically. The case study consists of a detailed analysis of the narratological and linguistic techniques that one nature writer uses in his non-fiction book to evoke enchantment with the natural world.

Chapter 6 deals with the topic of “Leading”. This chapter looks at ethics in leadership communication and the importance of narratives for challenging and changing existing ethical norms. It first defines the concept of ethical leadership and explains how the concept of ecosophy (which was explained in more detail in Chapter 1) fits into this discussion. It then looks at the language commonly used in different ethical frameworks by discussing lexical items that trigger certain frames that can be linked to these ethical frameworks. The case studies for this chapter are from India and Hawai’i and represent good examples of ethical leadership.

Chapter 7 moves on to the topic of “Feeling” by investigating the use of emotional narratives in climate change documentaries. The analysis looks at different modes of presentation (paradigmatic, narrative), different types of narratives and narrative structure. The focus is on the techniques that are used in these documentaries to stimulate the viewers’ emotions in order to try and call them to take action against climate change.

Chapter 8 looks at the topic of “Persuading” through an investigation of different types of food advertising. The chapter begins by looking at classic- and identity-type ads and takes into consideration what is said in the ads, as well as the visuals and audios used. All ads chosen for this case study advertise meat or dairy products. The analysis then moves on to counter-type advertising and discusses examples of ads that are designed to discourage people from purchasing meat products.
Chapter 9’s topic is “Ending”. This chapter explores the use of metaphors in apocalyptic writing. The chapter discusses written and audio-visual material that describes the end of the world and the metaphors used in it. The focus is on narratives that are frequently drawn on in environmental communication.

The final chapter brings together many of the previously discussed ideas and methods and applies them to a new case study by looking at people’s conception of wolves. The chapter discusses different material related to this topic and makes use of many of the types of analyses that are explained and illustrated throughout the book (e.g. activation of characters, use of metaphors, language of enchantment). The chapter ends with multiple calls to action: for academics to employ inter- and transdisciplinary approaches when studying econarratives, for people to take action outside academia, and for all of us to search for new econarratives to live by.

EVALUATION

Overall, “Econarratives” is a very readable and easy to follow introduction to the topic. All linguistic terminology and concepts are explained and illustrated with examples, allowing linguists, academics from other fields and non-academics to follow the book’s arguments. Terminology that has previously been used by other authors with different definitions is discussed in the context of those previous usages to ensure the readers are aware of how the present author is using the terms. All analyses undertaken throughout the book are well illustrated and explained, using plenty of examples.
The book is very well structured. The introduction (Chapter 1) provides all the background knowledge necessary to be able to follow the remaining chapters of the book and clearly outlines the author’s approach and aim. Chapters 2-9 discuss different aspects of econarratives and could be read individually if the reader is only interested in one specific topic. Each chapter contains case studies, investigating different text types that are taken from different speech communities and different languages all around the world. This shows that the book’s relevance is not limited to the anglophone world, but that econarratives exist and can be analysed in languages worldwide.

The chapter’s are arranged in a logical sequence starting with “Beginning” (Chapter 2), the discussion of creation narratives, moving through other topics such as “Emplacing” (Chapter 4) and “Leading” (Chapter 6), before finishing off with “Ending” (Chapter 9), the discussion of writing about the end of the world. This gives the book its own narrative arc. The conclusion (Chapter 10) brings together many of the types of analyses undertaken in the previous chapters to illustrate the wide range of possibilities that econarratives present for linguistic research. The author’s ecosophy is referred to regularly throughout the book and many of the texts used in the case studies are evaluated in line with it. The author’s call for action thus forms a red thread throughout the book.

The range of analyses undertaken and text types discussed in “Econarratives” clearly show the potential for future research. As the author himself states in the conclusion, while the topic was approached through an ecolinguistic lens, linguistics alone cannot fully investigate all that econarratives have to offer. Instead, he calls for a transdisciplinary approach that combines linguistics with other humanities and science disciplines. I can only agree with that.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Rebecca Madlener is a second year PhD student in Gaelic and Celtic Studies at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig / the University of the Highlands and Islands. She holds a BSc in General Linguistics from Salzburg University, as well as an MA in General Linguistics from Uppsala University. Her PhD project investigates the Scottish Gaelic landscape vocabulary, synchronically and diachronically.